Legacy of the Saiyans: Jaune Arc
by Tsurugi-sensei
Summary: AU "Do you know why I am called a Monster? It is because they don't understand what I am. Mankind has never been one to take kindly to things they can't understand or control, so what do they do in that scenario? They try to take it out, but I won't lie down and die. This planet is my home, this is my children's home, and I will die to protect it!" Saiyan Jaune
1. A New Breed

**So, I've seen the latest trailer for the new Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie and I had a hit of inspiration, so I decided to write down the idea during work for the past few days, and this is the result.**

 **Be warned though, the fate of Broly in this is purely for entertainment purposes, don't consider it to be my real opinion or anything.**

 **That said, enjoy.**

" _Desperation is one hell of an emotion, ya know? I know because I've been there. It makes us do things we would never even consider doing. It breaks us down, piece by piece, and in the end if you let it, desperation will win, thus the actions you do in its name will only get worse, and when all is said and done...you will be eaten up with nothing but regret when everything you hold dear is just ashes around you." **~Qrow Branwen**_

* * *

 **Legacy of the Saiyans: Jaune Arc**

 **Prologue: A New Breed**

" _Journal Recording #1: I...can't believe it. When we received the call I was excited, ecstatic even. However, now that I've seen what the faunus miners found in the mines...I can't help, but be very cautious. It was an incredible find to be sure but...this thing...it was just a huge corpse, and yet just being near the thing brought a chill down my spine. Whoever or whatever this thing was...it must have been incredibly dangerous. Just the vibe from it was enough to make me feel as if death was breathing down my neck. I'm kinda glad it's dead."_

* * *

General James Ironwood considered himself to be a practical man. In almost every aspect he has aimed for the most precise and efficient method in attaining his goals, no matter what they may be. That was why he was such an influentially powerful man. Having become the Headmaster of Atlas Academy had merely been the first step in his career. When he showed his methods in teaching and hammering out unruly youths into practical and competent soldiers had earned him accolades and praise from many of his comrades.

Then he made General in the Atlesian Military due to the many of his campaigns with pushing back the Grimm from Atlas thus earning the people of the continent more land to nurture and build upon. This has earned him adoration and respect among his peers and in the Chain of Command. His methods in pushing them back had been tactically sound and were the most efficient in pushing back the Grimm threat. He was only one of the few Generals in the army, but if a vote had to be made it would be clear that he would win if it came down to the position of Commander-in-Chief.

And finally was his two seats on the Remnant Council. An achievement even he himself was still surprised to hold. Due to his sheer brilliance in both the Atlesian Military as one of its most decorated Generals, his responsibilities as Atlas Academies Headmaster, and Head of the Kingdoms Technological Division, caused James Ironwood to have so much influence that even the Council had taken notice and earned him a seat on the council. The other seat had been given to him by the King of Atlas before his death thus leaving no heir to take the seat. Thus the King left it to the most decorated officer in the military to hold the position.

Thus, James held two seats on the council of all of Remnant, which left him with a unique level of political power that rare few could barely match.

However, all of that was _meaningless._

* * *

" _Journal Recording #3: It's been exactly 3 days since the faunus miners excavated the...fossil from the glacier. Since then we of the ASRD have taken complete control over the fossil and have moved it to a secure facility. Thankfully, with the aid of General Ironwood and the backing he has given us, we've been given the go ahead on finding out everything we can about this thing; who or what this thing is, and if possible, if it's secrets can be beneficial for Atlas._

* * *

General James Ironwood for all his military might and political power knew that he was also a very deeply flawed man. He wasn't perfect, far from it really. He has sacrificed fellow soldiers to attain the objective. He has stepped upon the corpses of his own to reach where he was now. Contrary to what many believed, James Ironwood was not, in any sense of the word, a good man. He was a tactician, a man who put the needs of the many above the needs of the few. His best interests for Atlas sometimes interfered with his own interest for the good of all.

Which has led to his current dilemma.

James was an orphan who was adopted by an Atlesian soldier. He was raised to take up the best interests of Atlas at heart. Atlas was his home and Solitas was his foundations. He was raised to do everything, no matter how vile it was, to bring the betterment of Atlas and Solitas. And he was of the mindset for a very long time. Almost to the point of being zealous in his regard of bringing the betterment of all of Atlas. However, that all changed when he met certain people who changed his views and opened his eyes to an even bigger chess game than he'd ever anticipated.

The revelation that their was a monster out there, whose power controlled the Grimm and held more than 95% of Remnants land as her own. A woman who was considered a Queen, a Goddess among the Grimm. An entity with more pull in the shadows than he could ever anticipate. Such an existence was lurking in the shadows for so long, and James was expected to be able to help against such a creature? Especially when such a being had lived for so long?

How do you compete with that?

Where do you even _begin?_

Apparently the organization he'd recently joined believed these _Maidens_ from the fairy tale held the key to stopping Salem _._ Yet James found it hard to believe even when proof of their existence was shown to him. James Ironwood was a man of science and technological advancement for mankind. He believed in logical solutions; not in whimsical fairy tales told to children at night.

Well, as if the Gods had blessed him with an answer, he was given one such way. It was in the form of a fossil, a frozen burnt corpse dug up by the faunus miners in the Schnee dust mines. It was in the heart of the mountains, and the corpse was found inside a glacier, but when it was excavated and James had seen it for himself.

He had felt it.

He didn't know how, he didn't know why, and he sure as hell didn't know where it was from, but James had felt it the moment he was within 3 feet of it. The corpse was too burnt and beaten to be distinguishable. Yet it's body was massive, at least 3 times taller than himself, and with a level of muscle that could put an Alpha Ursa to shame. Yet it was the feeling he got from the corpse that was the most telling.

It was raw.

It was primal.

It...was alien.

And that thought shook James to his core. It brought thousands of ideas to the forefront of his mind, but only one took precedence.

Maybe this thing could hold a key to ending that wretched Queen once and for all.

Or so...that was his thought at the time.

* * *

" _Journal Recording #9: The fossil has been entirely cleaned from head to toe, but the sheer durability of this thing is completely insane. When the General ordered for samples to be taken from the corpse we didn't think much of it. Yet when we tried a needle the damn thing snapped as if it was pressing against solid steel. We then tried a laser drill, but that didn't do anything besides shatter the damn tool. We then took to try anything from swords, guns, anything with piercing power, but nothing so much as made a scratch._

 _Then we went with the strongest thing we had._

 _It was a glacier cutting tool that was used to carve into the deep ice seeped bedrock of Solitas to expand territories and build more mines for the Schnee Dust company. It was made by a diamondium dalmascus steel bit with an ultra concentrated laser that could pierce into even the thickest of material._

… _.The tool exploded after 5 minutes of overuse, but there was success!_

 _A small indention in the corpse had been made. Just enough to gather samples of DNA for the General._

* * *

The samples from the corpse proved his theory to be true. Whoever or whatever this thing was, it was most definitely not of Remnant. The cells were entirely different from either humans or faunus. However, James was convinced the cells could be of some use to aiding the war with Salem, but to his soldiers he simply said this research could be the breakthrough Atlas needed to advance themselves enough to stop the Grimm once and for all.

So tests had been done and the results had been both astonishing and disappointing in equal measure.

They had taken two samples of the dna and isolated the cells within in before placing them in two individual cell plates; each one filled with human and faunus cells respectively. And under a microscope, James and the lead Doctor heading this project saw what the alien cells did to the human and faunus cells.

The human cells were the first to be affected by the foreign cell. Once the two were put into one plate the alien cell reacted first. Coming into contact with the human cells, they were quick to show signs of change as they dispersed and evolved into cells much like the alien one. They were quick in their multiplication, but that's where the changes ended.

Then the faunus came next, and interestingly enough, the alien cell had remained stationary once placed in a sample of monkey faunus cells. The faunus cells were the first ones to react and when they moved to connect with the foreign cell an interesting change occurred. The faunus cells started to grow 3 times their normal size, but like the human cells that is where different changes occurred.

However, there was one change that occurred to both cells that were one and the same when they came into contact with the alien cell. And that was the fact the activity of the human and faunus cells had been increased by an unforeseen amount. Their activity levels had been so off the charts that they were darting all across the sample in a vain attempt to escape and reach the nearest organism.

Dr. Gero, the head of the Atlas Science and Research Division suspected that the alien cell must have acted as a supercharger to the human and faunus cells; increasing their activity by at least 500 times. Thus the alien cells were code named S-Cells due to what they were and what they could potentially do.

Well that is until the human and faunus cells both began to break down and deteriorate in just about 30 or so seconds after exposure.

* * *

" _Journal Recording #21: While we found that the alien cell did cause interesting changes to occur in both human and faunus cells, we had to go about do further test with different test subjects due to the end result of the exposure of the alien cell. 3 months have gone by and we still have gotten close to figuring out how this cell and how we could safely implement its use without harming test subjects._

 _We did multiple experiments with lab rats, dogs, cats, lions, tigers, and monkeys. Each one was given a small injection of the alien sample, and the results were...disappointing to say the least._

 _Most of the animal started to act out in pure aggression, regressing back to their prime survival instincts. Though we noted certain physical changes did occur in the animals. Dogs and Cats became 10 times faster than their normal speed. Tigers and Lions became much more ferocious and were able bend steel in their jaws and leave gouges in the metal with their claws._

 _Then there was the monkeys, out of all the animals, they had the most interesting change. Once injected by the alien sample they seemed to gradually become more aware of their surroundings and of themselves. Choosing to opt for more...human postures, but that wasn't all. They showed displays of incredible strength for what they were. They break steel, punch through granite, and even out run the enhanced dogs and cats._

 _However, it was the monkeys that showed the greatest amount of ferocity. Becoming ravenous and hungry, they fell upon the other animals in the cells, killing and consuming the dogs, cats, and tigers and lions in a mass blood frenzy where the monkeys had gorged themselves on the flesh of the other animals._

 _It...was the most horrifying thing I have ever witnessed in my 50 years of being alive._

 _Yet, after all that, the monkeys started to slow down and eventually started to attack each other in a rabid frenzy, and as this happened their bodies started to break down as the alien sample within them caused deterioration throughout their bodies. And soon they died while tearing each other apart._

 _It was disappointing when we were so close to a breakthrough, but the results from the experiments did give us some interesting insight into what these cells can do._

 _More research and experimentation is required._

* * *

James considered what he could do many times over the course of the last few months. Report after report from the ASRD only showed more interesting results the cells showed, but in return every experiment ended with the subject dying due to deterioration. At first he didn't know why it happened; he considered it may be because no living thing on Remnant was even close to the biological make up of the alien corpse they had found, but that wasn't entirely true.

Small isolated genes within the alien sample were found to be similar to certain type of genes found in human and monkey genomes respectively. Although they were worlds apart, the distinction was there nonetheless, and from that James was confident a foundation could be built from it.

However, that was 2 months ago, and the only thing the ASRD could produce was a theoretical analysis. Pure conjecture at its best, but it was all they had.

The report had been made by Dr. Gero and from it James was left with only one option in his head.

This was because the report had said, the only way to truly see how the alien sample could be used was if it was introduced to a human with a strong genetical foundation born through centuries of adapting and evolution. A human that could only be considered untainted, a newborn, but had such a diverse and strong gene pool that they could only prove to be the most viable test subject.

And James felt the report rung true. It was a scientific fact that out of every living species on the planet, humans were the most versatile and adaptable when placed in any kind of environment. Humans were prone to do what they needed to so they could survive. They would hunt, kill, eat to survive. Whatever environment, whatever climate, humans made up for their weakness in strength, speed, reflexes and other such things with their versatility and adaptability. Humans were intellectual creatures at heart and because of this they were considered at the top of the food chain with the faunus just beneath that.

The reason for that was because the faunus lacked the versatile mindset humans had due to their natural reliance on their animalistic traits they were born with. Which wasn't a bad thing as James himself had met quite a few faunus that were incredibly dangerous due to their specialized traits. However, the fact remained, because of their over reliance on their traits, faunus were much less versatile than humans were in the world.

Regardless though, James now had only one option left to him, and it was one he was entirely against. The mere thought of it brought forth a violent amount of vile to surge up from within him. He knew exactly where to get such a test subject, but it would be completely inhuman of him to even consider getting it. And that was just due to what he would have to do to get such a fine specimen.

"No..." James would tell himself. "There has to be another way."

He said this in confidence...

But the lingering doubt in the back of his mind was growing.

* * *

 _Journal Recording #45: I'm not sure what has the General so troubled, but the fact remains he is. He may try to hide it, but I've been alive long enough to notice the symptoms. Sleep deprivation, lack of an appetite, mood swings, anxiety. Yes, the general may fool the others, but he is still 40 year's too young to keep it from me._

 _Although I can't him blame him for falling into that state. The moment we found that alien corpse in that glacier it could only be considered the biggest scientific find in all of Remnants history, rivaling that of the discovery of dust itself. And yet, from the billions of lien poured into this project, the resources we have put into this endeavor. All of that..._

 _It was all proving for naught as the alien sample has proven to be more lethal and damaging than it would be productive. No living test subject has lived long enough for us to record how useful it would be, and it was too deadly to use in any practical military use as it would killed anyone within 30 seconds to a minute depending on the person._

 _At least that was the theoretical analysis at work since we've yet to try live human testing, but the General has denied all avenues to such subjects._

 _Hm, this is indeed troubling..._

* * *

They say desperation could be considered a good thing. Desperation comes in all sorts of situations, but its most useful potential comes out when you're backed into a corner in battle. Desperation fires off neurons in the brain receptors and can sometimes engage a rush of adrenaline to push through an attack or multiple attacks that would otherwise kill or cripple you. Or give you reflexes you didn't know you had; thus allowing you to avoid a hailstorm of attacks from a range, so you can get close to the enemy and cut them down.

Desperation could be considered a good thing in that regard, in a combat situation that is. In a life or death scenario desperation was the key to either surviving or dying.

However, it was a gamble to rely on it, it was a double-edged sword, and if you strayed too far off the path the edge would cut you down faster than any sword.

And that was what James Ironwood felt when he received reports from both his commanders out in the field trying to root out the White Fang terrorists only to find out their have been recent surges within faunus communities with rebellious natures coming to head with local authorities. And debriefings from his fellow member in organization that was dedicated to killing Salem. Reports of her activity growing as Grimm have become more active over the past couple of months resulting in villages outside the Kingdoms being raised to the ground and the residents becoming refugees fleeing the threat, or those unable to get away being caught and eaten by the monsters.

It was all so much for the General. He had poured so much of his time and resources into this project, one he had kept secret from everyone besides a few generous benefactors.

This was supposed to be the breakthrough they needed, but it was all going to end in naught if they didn't find a way to use this giant corpse of alien DNA for something. There was just so much potential to be had here yet no way on capitalizing on it.

But then, there was a way.

It was just something James himself had considered, but had instantly thrown aside since if he acted on it he would he be tossing aside all his morals and principles. He'd be committing some of the biggest crimes in History. If he acted on it he would become the very thing he hated above all else.

He would become a criminal if he was ever found out...

But it would all be for the benefit of bringing down Salem forever.

 _'Can I really justify myself when danger is swarming around us from every corner? How can I look at my subordinates, my people, my fellow comrades and say I couldn't do anything when I have a viable option in my arsenal.'_

The honest answer was he couldn't. James Ironwood knew all too well that to get anywhere in the world you had to play dirty, and do things that were downright criminal to get any sort of real power. He knew this, and it was why James had reconsidered his option from before and called for a meeting with Dr. Gero.

It was time to play dirty.

* * *

" _Journal Recording #47: Intriguing. It would seem the General has proven my theory correct. After all this time he knows of one fine specimen that fits the theoretical analysis report. He didn't give me any specifics, but he assured me that I would have the subject within the weeks time. Interesting, but there is no point in becoming too excited. Regardless of whether or not this specimen fits the report doesn't matter to me. What does matter though is that we will finally have our first human test subject and that alone is cause for excitement._

 _But I shall remain calm. I am a Scientist first and foremost, and if there is anything we can get from this, then by the Gods I will find it."_

* * *

In truth, there was only one family that came to mind when James Ironwood read the report from Dr. Gero. It was the only family that made sense considering who and what they were as a people, as a race, and what they were as a living culture. He knew them, was personal friends with the head of the family, they were the nicest people he had the pleasure of knowing. Hell, he was the Godfather to their first daughter Bianca.

Which made what he was about to do them all the worse.

That family was the Arcs. A Family whose history predated all of Remnants known recorded history. As far as anyone knew the Arcs have always been a present force in Remnant. They were hailed as the greatest warriors among Remnant and rightfully so due to what they have done in the past and what they were capable of even now. The Arcs were warriors. No one in their right mind would ever say otherwise. The Arcs were born and bred for battle; that was all they knew, it is what they were born to do. They breathed warfare like it was second nature. They were natural leaders, always on the front lines leading the soldiers to the first clash of any conflict they were apart of.

They were also diverse in who they were. Human or Faunus, they all stemmed from both races which made them genetically a diverse race of people who each held a gene pool of the worlds most genetically diverse genes in the world. No one knew why the Arcs were so strong, or so combat superior to everyone else, but scientists around the world theorized it was something in their genome.

Though they were small in number, there wasn't anyone foolish enough to gain their ire without knowing the consequences it would bring down upon them. Their influence was beyond the Council which was always a topic of heated discussion among them when the conversation ever came to them. However, no one would dare to try and place restrictions upon them unless they wanted to go to war with them.

And to go to war against even one Arc was an attempt in futility as the current Elder Arc, Julius Arc, had proven such a feat in the past. A fabled story told to anyone that even had a small amount of knowledge in the past. Julius Arc had fought in the Faunus Rights Revolution, and on the side of the faunus at that. He waged campaign after campaign against his own humans, and at the Battle of Fort Castle he was instrumental in stopping General Lagunes reinforcements of 10,000 Atlesian soldiers by putting them into a choke point and used his fabled semblance, Adaptation, to single handedly crush the reinforcements while his army aided the faunus in stopping Lagune and helped in his capture.

The old Arc was a monster, of that there was no doubt, but with his semblance? There wasn't a person alive that was stupid enough to anger that sleeping dragon.

However, James Ironwood was about to be the first.

Because as he gripped the walkie talkie in his hand, his grip tightened on the paper in his hand.

It was an invitation...

From the Arcs...

Celebrating the day the firstborn son of the Arc family was born.

Jaune Arc...

 _He has found the prime test subject._

"Alpha Squad, commence the Operation."

" _...Ten-four, General."_

James sighed as he put the device away and opened the door to his bullhead to see the sight of the Arc Ancestral home before his eyes.

 _'May the Gods have mercy on my soul for what I'm about to do.'_

* * *

It was pure chaos.

James Ironwood should have expected as much, but he hadn't truly taken in the full measure of what he'd done into account nor the consequences that would follow. He was going down the elevator to the ASRD underground facility, but he had already seen the headlines blasting across the news across the Kingdoms. But that wasn't all, every major military force that had ever served under the Arcs pulled their forces back and swelled up with the Arcs. Whether from past loyalties or something else, it hadn't even been 12 hours and already the Arcs had already situated themselves in a major power.

And they were _angry._

 _'Though I would be too if I was in their position.'_

James sighed as he looked down at the cause of the whole mess, it was a newborn baby boy wrapped up in a bundle of white and gold cloth. The Arc ensemble emboldened on the cloth, signifying where this boy came from. He looked at the boy, his mess of blond hair and startling blue eyes were such an Arc trait that he couldn't be any more of an Arc if the boy tried.

Than again, James was holding the heir to the Arc legacy so he shouldn't be all that surprised.

For a moment he felt a shiver go down his spine when he thought of the recent actions of the Elder Arc and what he's done in the wake of the boy's kidnapping. Julius was a whole kind of animal all on his own, but he was also a family man. He loved his son, his family. He spoiled his grand daughters like it was nobody's business. And it was because of that James was terrified.

Julius was a man of focus, and once he set his sights on something he wouldn't stop till he got what he wanted.

The man had made his presence known through various networks and had given one message. One solitary message that shook all the Kingdoms and brought forth a wave of such cold wrath that it put everyone on alert. When his grizzled face blew up on every major new network around the world, everyone that knew of him froze on the spot. Though wrinkled and his gray hair made him appear every bit the old man that he was, his cold blue eyes shined with a fury unlike anything the world had ever seen.

" _As some of you may or may not know. My grand son, my heir, Jaune Arc, was taken from us. We don't know who the kidnappers are, or what their intentions were behind this heinous act. However, we are sure of one thing. We will find you, and when we do, there will be no force on this solitary rock that will save you from me. I don't care who you are. Civilian, President, King, or Councilmen. When we find the perpetrator, I will show you true agony. Whoever you are, if you hurt my boy, you will never no peace. Death will be a mercy that I will not give you."_

And that had been the end of it.

Yet James could already tell the old mans declaration would send the Council into a fit of hysteria and rightfully so given the context of what the old monster had said.

But no one deserved to be more scared then himself.

However, he would stand his ground when his time came and would accept the consequences of his actions without a notion of resistance.

Yet right now, as he reached the facility, his mind was set on one thing. To make the weapon that would finally kill Salem and end the Grimm threat once and for all.

He met Dr. Gero, an old man in a white scientists garb with long gray hair he reached out to the old man who glanced down at the boy and his eyes could have popped out of his skull. "As promised Doctor, here is the test subject, I assume there will be no problems?" he said. His voice was emotionless, giving nothing of personal feelings as he gave the boy to the shaking heads of the old scientist. Gero simply looked at the boy for a few moments before he looked back at James, and the grin the old man gave a chill of disgust down his spine.

"Oh General...there is no problem whatsoever..."

And that was the beginning of what would be the most successful and terrible experiment made in humankind.

* * *

It's been 5 days since James had Jaune Arc kidnapped from his ancestral home, and ever since then the Atlesian General has kept himself busy with Council meetings and debriefings with his organization over the matter. The fallout over the Arc boys kidnapping had been far more reaching than he'd anticipated since the organization he worked for was even starting to stress about the whole situation was capable of disrupting the balance of the worlds major powers.

However, he eased his mind from that when he thought of today, today would be the biggest gamble he was about to take. Standing in the Stasis chamber of the ASRD facility, he stood with Dr. Gero with a clipboard in hand and a serum injector filled with the a whole tub of S-Cells directly taken from the alien corpse.

"So, are you sure this will work Gero?" he asked as he looked at the newborn. The boy was cleaned and placed on a table. The boy simply lay there staring at them with big curious blue eyes. Looking at him only made his guilt grow tenfold, but he pushed it down and replaced it with a cold mask of neutrality.

Gero for his part seemed ecstatic, well at least one of us was happy about this, James thought as the old man spoke. "Well I'm not hundred percent certain, but from preliminary tests done on the boys cells and the aliens we had much more progress than any other. The survival rate of the cells had been down 50 from 100, but when reintroduced to the S-cell again the survival rate of those cells jumped up by at least 50% with 25 out of 50 of that cell group surviving. So, for the Subject 0 here, I can only give him a 10 or maybe 20% chance of surviving, but that is just being considerate. You know how volatile these S-cells are so there is no way of knowing until we do the test." he said and James sighed.

Well this was it.

Looking at the boy one more time, blue met blue.

"Do it." his voice dead to the world.

" _I'm sorry Jaune."_ those last few words escaped him, and the boy tilted his head when he looked at him.

"Very well, commencing injection." Dr. Gero came up to Jaune and grabbing the boys arm he gently pressed the needle in and the boy showed his displeasure when he let out a wail.

"WAAAAAHHH! WAAAHHHH!" each cry made James close his eyes and bite the inside of his cheek as Gero put the need into the boys vein he pushed the S-Cells in.

"And there we go." amid the crying boy, the Doctor said with the injector and James opened his eyes to watch the boy.

"Now let's see what happens." and so they watched the boy cry and cry some more until, 2 minutes in, the boy suddenly stopped crying, and instead let out a gurgle. At this the two men narrowed their eyes as the boy started to convulse. They watched in morbid fascination as the newborn let out gurgles before he started to tremble on the table. The fascination grew as the boy started to claw at the table leaves gouges into the steel. Then came the shaking and it wasn't from the boy. A pressure started to fall upon the whole facility. It brought the two men to the ground, but as it started cause the electronics to burst and other scientists to collapse gasping for air.

It stopped.

And the boy stopped moving.

Fear clawed its way the the surface when he saw this, and James recovered quickly to get to the boy. "Jaune!"

But Gero saw something else, the aura readers in the chamber suddenly started to go off the charts.

"General get back!" Gero shouted and James reacted purely on instinct and did as his body ordered, and in time to as the last thing he saw was a coat of white slowly appear over Janue's body.

Then the world went white.

 **Boom!**

An explosion rocked the whole facility, but the major damage had been restrained to the testing chamber. The shockwave however had done enough damage to send researchers and scientists flying into walls and appliances. The electronics exploded and the facility almost seemed to collapse in on itself as the world nearly gave way under the massive force that erupted from within it.

Inside the testing chamber, however, the two men were able to get up with relatively no harm done, but as the smoke cleared the two men saw something that would change their lives forever.

"General...James...we've done it...WE'VE DONE IT! LOOK!" Dr. Gero was over the shattered moon in excitement, and James opened his eyes to see what the doctor saw.

And his eyes widened in sheer shock, his irises trembled by what he saw, but his mind denied what he was seeing.

It was the newborn Jaune, but he was no longer laying on a steel table. No the entire area of where the boy was was reduced to nothing, but a sphere shaped crevice in the earth. The whole metal had been vaporized from the blast. Nothing remained, every piece of metal was gone in the area of the blast.

No the only thing that remained was Jaune and the boy was there... _floating_ in mid-air with a shocking white aura surrounding his form. His body was curled up and his hands clenching into fists. The boy's hair was spiking out at odd angles with a streak of black hair going out to the right. However, the biggest changes was the boys eyes, they were open and staring straight ahead, but instead of the blue was a primal hue of yellow. A shade brighter than a cats, but darker than the original yellow.

And...waving behind him, was a brown bristled 2 foot monkey tail.

 _By the Gods what have I created?_

"We've done it James..." the General heard the doctor speak and he glanced at the older man with speculation.

"...And just exactly what have we done, Doctor?"

Dr. Gero's mouth stretched into a mad grin as he stared at the boy ahead of him. "Something great. Something neither human nor faunus. We've done something unprecedented here. General, we have created...a whole new breed."

….

 _'Why does that leave me feeling so terrified?'_

If only he knew, if only he had read the signs.

If only James Ironwood had applied his brilliance and saw...how this event would change the course of history forever.

* * *

 **Don't maul me to death about all that gentetic mumbo jumbo. I'm not gonna pretend to be a Genetics expert. I'm just rolling off what I've found with some research.**

 **Now with that said hope you all liked it.**

 **Bedtime!**

ASRD – **Atlas Science & Research Division**


	2. Chaos in Laughter

**Sorry for the late update everyone. I work at a carpet mill, it's 3rd shift and I work 6 days out of the week, so I've been pretty busy. But I was at least able to work on this stories plot and overarching chapter index. The next few chapters are planned out so there shouldn't be much worry over that.**

 **Now with all that said. Thank you all for the support given for the first chapter; to be honest I'm a little surprised at the amount of support given to its inception considering the amount of liberties I've done for its prologue. Nevertheless, thank you all again for the support.**

 **Chris Adair: I cannot speak for personality or techniques in general as that is all something you need to find out by reading the chapters. Thanks for reading.**

 **Someone also said they didn't want Jaune to be OP. Well I'm sorry to say, Saiyans in general are incredibly Overpowered even as newborns, especially when compared to normal humans. But with Jaune being injected by pure S-Cells and trained to be the ultimate weapon by the greatest military and technologically advanced power in all of Remnant; well...**

 **It'll be easier just to read and find out.**

 **Now enjoy!**

" _I'll never forget that day, you know? I was rock climbing before I saw it happen with my own eyes, but somehow I try to force myself to think it didn't happen, but it did, didn't it? The destruction, that level of power. I don't know what caused that, but whatever it was, there is no way it could be considered human for no man can ever hope to hold delusions of holding such destructive power." **~Bartholomew Oobleck**_

* * *

 **Legacy of the Saiyans: Jaune Arc**

 **Chapter 1: Chaos in Laughter**

There was a common misconception when it came to the Councils of Remnant. To both citizen and huntsmen alike the word Council was usually understood as a singular group of politicians. They were thought of as just old people that liked to bicker between one another over matters others would fine to be hilariously unimportant to the rest of the world. Wasting time, lien, and resources on things that shouldn't even be conceived with the notion of any serious thought or official funding.

The truth of the matter was, there was a total of four Councils on Remnant that governed over each respective Kingdom. They were put in place after the events of the Great War, a time where Monarchs feuded with one another of matters of self-expression and individual freedoms. They acted as the administrative force that went above the King or Queen in terms of the people. The Council was the voice of the people, or so they claimed.

However, there was a time, every six months of the year the Councils would convene for a summit to discuss matters of the world and decide how to handle each issue. A Representative would be voted upon for each Kingdom and that spokesperson would represent the whole of their countries concerns. This gathering of each Council was born from a unanimous vote from the rulers of each Kingdom. This gave the Collective Council the power to usurp whatever decision the ruling Monarch made if the decided action was in the best interests of its people. However, to mediate such a world renowned meeting a neutral party would act as the enforcer for all proceedings and ensure the summit went smoothly.

And thus, James Ironwood found himself in one such meeting.

 _Great._

"This meeting has been called forth by the collective of the the four Councils. If we are all in attendance than let us begin with opening statements for today's first agenda. Mistral Representative, you have the floor." the voice of the Vacuo representative droned out in his usual bored fashion. James leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh as the Mistral councilman stood up to speak.

"Thank you, now, my fellows I believe we need to discuss the matters of the White Fang and their recent change in directory. Reports have been coming in over the past few years of their growth in activity lately and frankly what reports have been saying are troubling to say the least." he said only to get a scoff from his right. Attention diverted to the Mistral representative, an old woman who held an expression of scorn in her wrinkled visage.

"Oh please, the White Fang are merely showing their true colors as the filthy animals that they are. No need to sugarcoat the fact their recent activities have turned terroristic of late. I believe if my memory serves correctly, it was 5 years ago that they were beginning to rile up their fellow animals in frontier villages to riot against local authorities." she said causing James top frown in contempt at the woman's attitude. His disgust only grew when there was quite a few mutterings of agreement with the woman.

That was the biggest problem with both the collective Council and the four Councils, they were just humans that didn't hold a shred of respect for the faunus. Though they publicly showed their sympathy for the faunus, it was just a cruel veil of lies. It's one of the reasons why James hated dealing with them for their nature brought out the worst in humanity and only made the words the White Fang spoke all the more true.

Then again was he any better?

No.

He was _worse._

 _'However, the threat of the White Fang cannot be ignored. Five years and they've already secured a sizable amount of funding and resources from their recent movements in the criminal underworld and attacks on Schnee Dust ship freighters. Plus their popularity over the young and impressionable faunus is only garnering them more and more followers. At this rate they'll become more than just a mere group of ragtag criminals.'_

James considered many options of stopping them, but nothing official really worked due to all the legal restrictions and bureaucratic red tape to even begin mounting up oppositions against them. In addition, you would have to account for the impression this would make on the people of the Kingdoms if the Council did decide to take active military action against the White Fang. The action alone would cause a surge of tensions between humans and faunus, and it would more than likely spark another war like the Faunus Rights Revolution.

And that was something no one wanted to see ever again.

"We cannot openly enact military action against the White Fang without sparking further riots and tensions within our own Kingdoms. Times are bad enough with the Grimm threat hanging over our heads, so the last thing we need is to spark another Great War, or am I wrong?" James spoke his thoughts on the matter. The rest of the council seemed disgruntled by it, but simply settled with his words.

"However, that doesn't mean we cannot paint them for what they are. They are performing in activities of a terroristic nature, so therefore they shall be seen as the terrorists they've become. Leak information to the media networks of the four Kingdoms. They will take care of the rest." the Vale representative spoke out in turn causing James to grit his teeth in frustration. Even when the others agreed, James could only see folly in such a move since the action would spread fear and panic among the public. And since the Grimm fed on such negative emotions it would make them easy pickings, especially for those that lived on the frontier.

"With that settled let us move onto the next matter. Atlas representative, you have the floor." the dull voice droned, yet James ignored it in favor to speak.

"Thank you. Now as you are all no doubt aware, humanity and faunus alike face an existential crisis and that ladies and gentlemen is the threat of the Grimm. Their expanse cover more than ¾ parts of our world, and like it or not we are backed into a corner. Now recent activities for the past five years show they've begun to move in a different accordance to what they usually do." a projector lit up to reveal a map of their planet, Remnant, and on that map showed every continent on their little rock. However, the map revealed certain patterns of Grimm migrating in certain areas, places and locations they were known to reside.

"Now as you can see from the map, the Grimm we've come to know tend to usually migrate in specific areas to avoid unnecessary attention unless drawn out by negative emotion. That's been the case for as long as most of us can remember. However, five years ago, these patterns...changed." he said before the projector flickered to the same map, but the patterns of the Grimm were entirely different. Instead of the Grimm groups migrating to regions away from civilization." As you can now see they are actively beginning to not just migrate, but openly _attack_ settlements on the frontier in full out aggression. Already we've gotten word that over 40 settlements have been lost to the Grimm in the past 5 years." he said before the projector turned off.

Turning his attention to the Council who soaked up what he'd been saying for the most part. "Now, take into account, that the usual settlement out in the frontier on average has a populace that sits between 200 to 400 depending on the climate and region of the settlement. Now if we were to take the highest number of people in one settlement and multiply that by the number of settlements we've lost." he said before the projector blared on once more, showing a number of people that silenced the room in one fell swoop.

 _16,000_

James expression could have been mistaken for stone as he saw the number shown. "As you can see, roughly 16,000 people have been lost to the Grimm in a span of 5 years, and their activity only continues to grow. Now that may not seem to be a lot to us that live in the Kingdoms and cities, yet you must take into consideration the lives we've lost, the pioneers that were trying to spread civilization to the farthest reaches of the world. The families, the men, women, children lost to the Grimm. Whether they be human or faunus, lives have been lost to these monsters increased aggression, if something is not done, then we not only risk losing territory expanded by those brave pioneer settlements, but even more so, we risk losing more to the Grimm in the long run." he said before the projector turned off, the lights dimmed on so everyone could see his icy blue eyes roam them all. Everyone feeling a cold shudder to pass through them when under the Great General's scrutiny.

"So, I ask you, esteemed Council Collective, what are we to do with this threat?"

The other representatives remained silent as they thought about what could be done, but in all honesty their options were limited. Resources and lien were usually funneled into branches of development that were needed the most when it came to defending themselves against the Grimm. One main contributor of this was the rapid expansion of the SDC, a relatively small company that skyrocketed 5 years ago due to the brilliance of Nicholas Schnee and the man's friendship with Julius Arc, the main benefactor of the SDC at the time. Lien was produced by the Arcs, but resources was something the Council provided to Nicholas.

However, that gamble paid off with the SDC becoming the biggest dust company provider in all of Remnant. Thus the council made back what they gave two-fold, and the ties between the Schnee and the Arcs became even stronger.

Yet that's where the problem lie. The Collective Council has dabbled in many business gambles before that didn't result in any big reward as it did with the SDC. They lost more than they had gained, and on top of losing their money and resources, they were losing the respect of the people. And like any good politician knows, if they lose the general public's interest then without a doubt they would fade into obscurity and be dissolved by public disinterest. Funding would be cut, resources would be halted, and they'd lose the power they've coveted for so many years.

However, like any good politician, they had ways of swaying public interest to their cause. Lying or bending the truth a little bit was always on table, and their go to method when the going got tough. All they needed were targets for such methods and they were golden. So, what were two recent targets that could posed to put the public's faith with the Council?

The White Fang and the Grimm.

Bend the truth a little here, and a little white lie there, and they'd be rolling in billions; both in supporters and their cold hard earned lien.

However, that all mattered little if they didn't come up with a plausible method to deal with the White Fang and the Grimm.

"Atlas Representative, what is the status of the project you spoke of a year ago? Will that perhaps help with our Grimm problem?" one voice broke the silence and all eyes fell upon a rather distinguishable man. It was the Councilman from Vacuo, a man who cut a rather vicious appearance. It was monster of a man with dark skin and a muscular physique to match his height of over 7,2. He had short brown hair with a budding beard, yet his hazel eyes were piercing. Yet despite his overly built appearance he was calm and collected more than the other council members in the chamber.

James simply frowned even as mutters broke out among the others, his eyes locked with the man from Vacuo. He'd been in many of the Collective meetings before, but this man was just a recent addition. Twice he'd been here at the meeting, and twice now he'd yet to get any information out of the man besides his first name.

"...If you are referring to Project Z.E.U.S. Then yes, everything has gone along smoothly. Although we are nowhere near able to reveal what we've made yet, I can assure you once it's been complete we will have a suitable weapon to combat these threats." he said earning inquisitive stares from his fellows.

"I certainly hope you're right about that. We've poured much of our resources and lien into your secret project because we all know that Atlesian weaponry is something none of us can underestimate. I just hope whatever you're banking so much on is worth it in the end." the Vale representative said causing James to nearly frown but he kept his cool. It would do well for him to lose his control; especially when he was already in so deep of the metaphorical shit lake.

"That aside, we can at least increase patrols to further regions of the frontier. Huntsmen Teams given further expansion into infested territories to route out the Grimm. However, reparations cannot be made for those that chose to live outside the walls of the Kingdoms, they chose that life and must live through the consequences." the Mistral representative spoke getting a nod of agreement from the others. Even James agreed with those words, though heartless as they were.

"Now, I believe it's time we get to the final topic of discussion, and something we've all been having to deal with as of late. Vacuo Representative, you have the floor." the dull voice spoke once more, and the beastly man stared at everyone in the chamber for a solid minute. Then he let out a sigh before he spoke two words that made everyone sit straight and spike their adrenaline.

"The Arcs."

 _Fuuaah~_

In one fell swoop, the chamber died. All sound, all light, all taste, and even smell felt as if it had been taken in by the hurricane conjured by those two words. The features of the Councilmen became stoic, if not a bit scornful. Tension began to settle in, and sweat trailed down James brow as he felt the pressure settle in from those words.

"Ahh yes, the Arc's." the Mistral representative squared up, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes in annoyance.

Arc. The word brought forth a myriad of different emotions to the people in this chamber. One didn't know where to start and where to end when it came to that family. Though they're small in number their mere influence alone was stronger than any Kingdom. Their charisma, their martial prowess, their intelligence, everything about an Arc would have been deemed incredible if it weren't for their penchant behavior to undermine authority at every given turn.

"Hm, they've been the greatest trouble of the three topics we've come to discuss today. For five year's they've been hounding us, biting at our heels, and bringing upon so much pressure on us, it's hard to even move against them without causing a war." the Vale representative spat, and the rest could only agree.

There was a saying that History is written by the victor while the loser fades into obscurity, and that saying couldn't be anymore true when it came to the Arc family. To say they were just a family of strong warriors would be an understatement. In every great conflict, in every thrashing collision of violence, the Arcs were always there. They were always on the front lines, fighting for what they felt was right. Politics, personal interests, none of that ever mattered to them. What mattered was doing what was right, regardless of the consequences. It's why they were so well respected by not only humans, but by the faunus as well. Julius Arc, the beast himself, fought for the faunus in the Faunus Rights Revolution, cutting down his own humans just to prove a point.

No matter what, the Arcs would stand for the weak and downtrodden, no matter who the enemy may be.

And the mans son was no better, Xander Arc was a rebellious man who at every single turn spurned the Kingdoms bribes into pulling his family into their sphere of influence. It was Xander who put the Council of Vale and Mistral to heel when they stepped out of line with his family. Although he was more politician than Huntsman, he was still a warrior to be feared. Apparently being named after Alexander the Great, Xander proved his lineage, and upheld his legacy time and again by suppressing hordes of Grimm for years on the unexplored continent of Draco.

"I just don't see how that petulant little squirt of a boy is so important to them. He's just one boy! Who cares if he was taken. Xander is still young enough to have more children. It's not like that whore faunus wife of his can't spread her legs for another romping." the Mistral representative spat only for James narrow his eyes. His aura seeped out from every corner of his being, his eyes flashed such a icy hue that it could have frozen sun. The pressure was unmistakable to the rest of the council and the Vacuo representative narrowed his eyes on the General.

"Be mindful of your words, Councilor, for Xander and Maroon are my friends. _Speak of them like that again, and rest assured there won't be anything left of you to send back to Mistral."_ let it not be said. James Ironwood was not a good politician, but he was damned good soldier, and loyal to his friends when it came down to it.

The mistral woman looked as if she'd been slapped and for intents and purposes she may as well have.

Yet a haunting voice spoke within the back of the good Generals mind.

 _'Yet do you have any sort of right to claim you are their friend after what you've done? After the pain you've caused them?'_

James toiled with those words before pushing them back. It would be no good to let his guilty conscious come up right now. There would be time for him to soak in his own guilt ridden conscious later.

Then a great boom echoed within the chamber, and the pressure James unleashed earlier evaporated like water in the Vacuo desert as something heavier came crashing down on the two councilors.

"Enough! You are both out of line. Mistral representative, speak out of line again and you will be dismissed permanently!" the dull voice from before was cold and sharper than any sword in that moment. The woman flinched at that, and James would be lying if he didn't feel some satisfaction from that. "As for your Atlas Representative, threatening a Councilor is grounds for termination, regardless of reasoning. It is only because of your exemplary service and protection of Atlas and for the world that we do not have you thrown out. You will stay your tongue, or you will be terminated, is that clear?!"

James reeled in his thoughts at that moment, he took a deep breath, held it in, before exhaling. His eyes found the mediator for the Collective Councils summit, and he took in the mans appearance. He appeared to have come from the far eastern islands from the way he dressed, but the way he stood and the presence he gave off was no less than that of an elite warrior. A veteran of the highest martial accord.

"My apologies, Mifune-dono, it will not happen again." James said, giving out the proper respect to the old samurai. The man stared at him for one second longer before his face reverted back to it's neutral one.

"Good, now back to the topic at hand."

The Vale representative who remained still for the most part spoke. "Speaking of the lost Arc Heir. Let me remind you Mistral representative the importance the boy holds. The Arcs are a warrior family. A Clan of martial fighters whose skill remains unequal. However, they are also archaic in a sense of lineage. The Arcs follow a strict tradition of the firstborn son is to inherit the legacy of their ancestors. That's as far as my knowledge goes with the family, but think about it. The importance the boy holds. He is to inherit the richest legacy of Heroes known in all of Remnant. He is the carrier of something grand, and you can't simply replace that. It's something that only happens with them and the Arcs take it very seriously." the man said and James could only shake his head mentally.

 _'They don't know the half of it. Xander's son is the heir to a legacy so far reaching that it goes as far back as to the time of when mankind was first brought into this world.'_

And now that boy, that holder of such a legacy was now 500 feet below Solitas, being trained to be the greatest weapon to defeat the greatest evil known to mankind.

James felt like he was gonna vomit, such was his disgust with himself.

"I see, that does make more sense I suppose, but we cannot simply continue to ignore them for much longer. Already they've left their home in Sanus and back to the continent of Draco. It's there they've been mustering their forces. Those charters they pulled up regarding old alliances and sworn allegiances has garnered them with enough militia and resources to be considered a major threat if imposed." the Mistral woman spoke gaining a nod from the others; even James had to agree with those words.

The charters the woman spoke of was of course the documentation of several contracts dating back before the times of the Great War. Before the Councils were even a thing, the Monarchs of the four Kingdoms saw how incredibly valuable the Arc's were as a force of martial might. Therefore, every Kingdom had asked for their services in dealing with the Grimm tides and sought their aid in training their own soldiers and warriors to be efficient killing machines so that the Grimm could be dealt with.

The Arc's had agreed, but in exchange they simply demanded for one thing. If there was ever a time the Arc's were in need of aid, no matter what the situation was, the Kingdoms were duty bound to aid them. No matter who was King, no matter who ruled the Kingdoms down the line, they were bound by oath to aid the Arc.

However, there wasn't much that needed to be said because as soon as the kidnapping became public news, soldiers, warriors, and huntsmen from all over the continents started too swell up with the Arcs. Many a number of men and women who fought with the Arc's or were brought up by their teachings swore their allegiances to them. And that had been without the need of the charter itself.

So, understandably, this left a good chunk of military power missing from the other Kingdoms. Even Atlas had been no better when veterans from the past War's had sworn themselves and their families to service.

"While that does pose a point of worry; I feel there is a bigger problem we need to address." the Vacuo representative spoke and the others looked to him even James glanced at him in curiosity.

"And what might that be, Vacuo Representative?"

The man closed his eyes for a moment before he spoke. "Earlier we recognized that the Arc's left their home in Sanus, of which we all thought to be their ancestral home, but we were mistaken. The fact they've fled to Draco has confirmed my own research into that family." he said before he pulled out an old scroll from his pocket before having an attendant place it in the projector. From there he turned it on so everyone could see. A projected map of Sanus, but the continent above Sanus was clearly highlighted.

"As you can see from this map, the continent of Draco is directly above that of Sanus, but as far as we know the continent has been completely uninhabitable due to the harsh climate and Grimm that swarm the land. Early reports from scouts from both Atlas and Vacuo have been witnessed mass migration periods from the Grimm. However, recent reports have shown us a different picture of the continent when viewed from Atlas satellite images showing us this." he said before the projector flicked to another image. It was from a skies point of view; detailing the continent from above.

"And there as you can see is a divide, a mass range of mountains that divide the dragon shaped landmass from the roost landmass it's situated on. On one side is nothing more than a giant nesting ground of Grimm, millions upon billions of them have to reside there. Yet on the other side of that range." he said before the images zoomed in on the roosting landmass. There is showed a continent of great forestry with a lush environment. However, the Councils eyes were drawn to one thing in particular.

It was the Compound situated near the base of the towering mountain range. Images were blurry, but there was a clear enough distinction that the compound was large enough to house up to 100 people or so. However, the overall layout of the compound was much much older than they had ever seen before.

"As you can see, the compound found in the pictures appears much older than any of the architecture of our era. This leads me to believe that the Arc's fled with their forces to this land. I believe that _this_ is their true home. I believe the reason why none of the Kingdoms have ever gone to this land...is because Draco is the ancestral homeland of the Arc Family."

….

Damn.

James could only curse as the rest of the Council went dead silent at that revelation, and finally he just tuned out the rest of the meeting, and good thing too as the other Councilors just flew into a rage at that proclamation.

Sometimes, James wondered why he ever decided to become a Councilor.

* * *

 _Project Z.E.U.S._

That was the code name on the thick embroidered file held in General Ironwoods hand. The man could only let loose a sigh only for his breath to fog out once it escaped his lips. His fur coat shielding his body from the arctic cold was ruffled by the winds that threatened to freeze every living thing in it's wake. The good General was walking to a frozen wasteland out in the very heart of the continents spiky peaks. His icy bluer eyes fell upon the land of home before his feet walked to a certain point in the vast land.

He felt a metallic shudder before a steel blast door opened up to reveal a steel pathway into the icy tundra. Stepping in the blast doors closed behind him before the snow fell upon it, acting as the natural barrier it was meant to be.

The steel walkway led to him reaching an elevator, and securing to the security systems that he was the General through facial recognition and thumbprint identifier, the elevator doors opened.

" _Welcome back, General Ironwood sir, what is your desired location?"_ an automated voice spoke out from within the elevator and James spoke while beginning to unravel the file in his hand.

"Testing Chamber-C856."

He heard a beep before the doors closed and felt the system move his body through various channels built into the tundra. Left, right, down, up, and further down. It was always the same thing for the past 5 years and the General hadn't gotten to the point that the ride was as boring as watching paint dry.

So, he busied himself by going through the file in his hands. Opening it up revealed every little detail on his project. Status reports, Resource lists, graphs and charts revealing the amount of lien spent for this project. He skimmed through all of this with practiced ease. Going through every paper like it was any other document on his desk back in Atlas. It was all very mundane to him when compared to the end goal for this project.

Then his eyes fell upon the pictures, and the very first picture had him stop. His hand trembled when he looked at the picture of a newborn baby boy with blond hair and vibrant blue eyes. His eyes looked at the picture for a good moment before he put it away to look at the others. The next picture was of the same boy, but he was very different. His hair had spiked out in random area's with a streak of black going through his hair. The boy's once vibrant blue orbs were a glowing yellow that seemed to pierce his guilty heart and grip his rotten soul.

"5 Years. It's already been 5 year's...and so much has changed."

James could only sigh as he looked past the pictures and to the status reports once the project truly began. _Project Z.E.U.S._ was the given code name he'd officially given to the Atlesian Council concerning the venture James had been working on. He'd told them all what they wanted to know, and that was it. The Project was a new type of Atlesian Military Weapon that would fundamentally change the face of Modern day Warfare for the rest of the world. That's what he told them and they were all too quick to help fund his project along with the rest of the Council Collective, although much more discreetly.

The code name had been merely a placeholder at first, but from the progress they'd made, James were all too certain that what he and the ASRD had created was going to become something much more grand in the future.

That being the case, James looked at the reports that followed for the past 5 years regarding the test subject for the project, and he had to still his beating heart when he saw the changes that happened to Jaune Arc over the course of the experiments. The day he had the boy kidnapped from his family and taken to be the prime subject for this experiment and ever since than the changes the boy has undergone would be...drastic to say the very least.

Every month they've injected the S-Cell serum into the boy within a course of 5 year's. And during that time James was witness to a massive physiological, mental, and emotional change in the boy. It took ¼ the time for Jaune to learn to walk than it would take a normal newborn. So, James had the boy undergo a series of tests and experiments that would put his physiology to the test. His durability was tested everyday with a hailstorm of bullets yet they bounced off him. Ordinary weapons such as swords, axes, maces, any mortal made weapon shattered like glass when used against him. Even dust infused weapons or ammunition didn't so much as leave a scratch on his body.

 _That was when Jaune was 2._

When Jaune was 3, James had already been testing the boy's strength, speed, reflexes, dexterity, and endurance. He put every lien they had into testing the boy, creating devices and methods of training the boy. He had a carbon steel wall 6 inches thick to test his strength. Jaune was able to punch through it on his third try, but a single kick could tear through the wall in one attempt. This first test was one of the most shocked since to break through a carbon steel wall that thick you would need at least a thousand pounds of TNT and a missile from an Atlesian Black Fox fighter jet for good measure to break through.

They tested his speed by see how fast he could run a mile and it took him only 10.3 seconds, thus making him faster than any man-made ground vehicle they had. They had a hard time even measuring his speed since no human eye could possibly track such speed so it took putting in detectors along the mile track which were linked to a speed camera that caught and measured the time the boy ran.

When he was tested for dexterity and reflexes they had the boy loosely chained to a pole leaving enough room for him to move within a 4 foot diameter. There they a firing squad around the boy where he was shot at by various weapons, but all carrying the only type of ammunition that could really harm him to an extent. Diamodium ammo was the only thing that could pierce his body or leave any damage that broke his skin. They did this so Jaune could learn how to react up until he was able to catch the bullets.

And for endurance, James had the boy tested by throwing him in a chamber that could replicate certain types of temperatures that mimicked the outside world and a gravitational core that was used in the core to control the level of gravity in the chamber. They had him sitting in temperatures that would kill anyone. He was put through temperatures that would kill anyone, but he remained perfectly fine after a couple of days in such situations. Even going to the maximum of the settings by training in the room when it was set to the temperature equivalent to the theoretical core of a volcano. And the fact the boy did all this under 1o times the gravity of Remnant just made the whole accomplishment even more outstanding.

That was when he was 4.

And ever since then James has been putting the boy through training sessions that involved methods that only he could accomplish. Giving the best of the best Atlas could buy and their technological researchers could develop.

One unique about this was that James had tried to see if Jaune could use a weapon, but after all the results of his preliminary tests he saw that Jaune himself was a more deadly weapon than any man-made weapon could ever be. So, weapons courses were thankfully cut out of his testing.14

Yet, through all of that, James saw one thing that was a stark contrast to his family. Where the Arc's were emotionally driven by a sense of doing what was right, no matter what. Jaune Arc, ever since being injected by the S-cell serum had made him emotionally numb to the world. If the boy lacked anything a human did have, it was emotions.

No, that would be wrong. There was _one thing_ Jaune felt.

He loved to fight.

He practically thrived off battle and that much James could see when the boy was utterly bored of simply training without using the fruits of his labor in real combat scenarios. So, the General rectified that within the boy's 3rd year by introducing him to a daily part of his training. He would be thrown into an arena where was pit up against a random selection of enemies pending on the results of his training. It was all robots of course as James wasn't about to risk the lives of his fellows against such a monstrous boy.

And he was right in that assumption, for in the trial Jaune was thrown in he was pit against 50 of Atlesians state of the art combat droids, and since the boy was told he could let loose in this arena.

Well...

James saw millions of lien exploding in his face as Jaune tore them apart. Tearing them in half, punching through their robotic skeletons, and crushing them under his heel without even a shred of mercy. Which scared James a bit since if those had been humans, Jaune would have killed them without a second thought.

 _'However, in comparison to the lien we spend on the robots, the amount we spend on food for the boy...I'm surprised we've not been run into the ground at this point.'_ James thought with a slightly amused expression. The Arc's have always had a abnormal appetite and it showed in Jaune, but the amount of food he could shove down his gullet was far more than anything he'd seen in the boy's father or his grandfather. He could pack away enough food to feed an entire family of 5 for two weeks in a single sitting. James, Dr. Gero, and most of the researchers could only watch the boy pack it all away in morbid fascination at times.

It was a bit interesting for the eggheads, but James was mostly revolted at the sheer sight. It was like watching a lion tear apart a gazelle.

James sighed as he finished thumbing through the file before tying it back together. Memories of the project were something he'd been going through since it all started, and while results were incredibly promising; every time he looked at the boy he felt his guilt eat away at him like a cancer.

"Whatever punishment lay in wait for me for doing this, I will gladly accept it with open arms, but I only wish to see Salem fall and this damned war end before I do." the General spoke before the elevator finally reached its destination with a ping.

" _You have arrived at Testing Chamber-C856, have a good General Ironwood sir."_

James blinked his eyes as the doors opened and he stepped through, his feet carrying him to the side of another man in a white lab trench coat. His long gray hair beginning to whiten every year, but his eyes held the same amount of intelligence as when James first met him. The soldier stood side by side with the scientist and they both looked to see a boy doing push ups with a giant block of steel strapped to his back.

"How's his progress, Dr. Gero?" he said causing the old man to glance at him before he looked down at his clipboard.

"As usual, interesting. He continues to show constant physical improvement through a combination of meticulous physical training in harsh atmospheric climates and his own body healing his body through his excellent healing rate." he causing James to hum.

 _'Ah yes, his healing ability. Out of everything that's probably the most unique and useful ability I've seen out of the young Arc.'_ James theorized that the enhanced healing had something to do with the boy's aura since it is what saved the boy's life during the first injection. Yet even after 5 year's ever since the aura explosion occurred from the young Arc, the only thing that remained from his aura had been the boy's incredibly fast healing.

The rest was simply...lost.

Or to be more precise, Jaune's aura had seemingly locked itself away after exploding out 5 years ago.

It almost sounded like it was alive and it may be the case. Aura and by extension semblances were still a mystery that humans and faunus have been trying to figure out ever since it was first discovered. Aura by definition is the manifestation of someones soul, it represents all of who they are as the very base of their being. So, maybe Jaune's aura had simply reacted instinctively to save it's master's life from a foreign threat. Lashing out to destroy whatever it was that was trying to hurt Jaune.

Still it was nothing, but a theory and a far fetched one at that.

"Although I think it's time we try and unlock the boy's aura again. The boy can train as much as he wishes, but we both know he can be much stronger if he had his aura." Dr. Gero said, and the the General gave him a cold glance.

"Although I do not disagree with you on that doctor, we need to be careful. We've been pushing the boy a lot regarding his aura and if we're not too careful we may do something to damage him. Remember, aura is the manifestation of our souls, but Jaune is only 5 year's old. His soul hasn't had enough time to truly develop." he said, but Dr. Gero simply smiled.

"In normal cases you may be right General, but this matter is beyond normal and you know it. Besides, there have been cases where children had their aura unlocked." he said before turning to walk down a set of chambers and the General glared at his back before following him.

"True, but most of those cases left the child either comatose, brain dead for the rest of their lives, or they simply died. The only one to have ever survived it was..."

"Julius Arc. The boys own grandfather." Dr. Gero said when he looked at James. "Remember General, the boy comes from a warrior family whose physical attributes are only equal to their spiritual endurance. If anyone can survive, it'll be him." he said causing James to stop for a moment to think. The doctors words did ring true to an extent. Julius was raised during a time of the Great War, and his father, Caesar Arc unlocked the boys aura so they could train Julius to fight.

Child soldiers were a common thing back then, if historical records were accurate, and it would also explain why Julius was such a monster.

James sighed, for some reason he knew this was a bad idea, but this whole project was already damning, so what was another sin to add to that metaphorical shit pile he'd made for himself.

"Very well then, you have my approval Dr. Gero."

The Doctor grinned as they reached the door to the testing chamber. First the doctor canceled the settings set for the chamber. The gravity returned to normal, and the atmosphere and climate changes reverted to normal. Then James spoke into the speaker as the boy stopped what he was doing when he felt the changes occur.

"Jaune, this is General Ironwood, Dr. Gero and I are going to try and help you unlock your aura again, so we're coming in." he said and the boy simply jumped up tossing the giant block of steel off his back letting it crash beside him. The effect shook the chamber for a moment before they opened the door and walked in. James stepped ahead of Dr. Gero, and once they were in front of the young boy the General couldn't help, but marvel the changes that have happened to the boy over 5 years.

Every physical trait that would have made the boy an Arc was entirely gone at this point. Constant injections of the S-Cell serum had changed him to such a physical level it was like he was a different person. His skin was darker, just a tad lighter than bronze. He stood 3,5 feet tall, but his muscles were noticeable in a sense due to the bulk in his arms and overall body. They would have been mistaken as chubby if it weren't for the fact it was solid muscle. They had the boy wearing a simple set of white loose fitting pants and shirt. His hair had grown out from it's blond mess into a mane of ebony spikes that fell around his head and to his neckline. His eyes were completely jet black, having lost their vibrant blue from before and the yellow from when he was first injected. However, the one thing that remained nearly the same was the boys monkey tail which had only grown a couple inches and was laying still to mirror the boys mood.

Just looking at the boys impassive, no, dead expression, James felt like a dagger was being twisted in his heart.

He looks nothing like the Arc Heir that he truly was.

Gods damn him.

James sighed once again before he knelt down so he was staring at the boy. "Now Jaune, I know we've tried this many times before, but I want you to try and unlock your aura again. You know the steps, we've practiced many times before." he said reaching for his own chest. "You need to _feel it_. Close your eyes and feel for that source of power, it should feel like heat, like a cover blanketing you. You will feel a tug. When you feel that tug, Jaune, I want you to grab it and _pull it_ as hard as you can. Do you understand?" he said causing the boy to nod.

"I do, General."

James flinched at the boy's voice. He had the boy taught the basics of talking and while the boy had soaked up the teaching; his voice was so cold, so dead, that it was like he was talking to nothing at all.

Gulping, James gave the boy a nod. "Good, then begin when you are ready." he said before stepping back to Dr. Gero. The doctor looked to researchers operating the aura readings from the outside and gave them a nod. They soon began to get the other researchers to operate the machines. A low hum started off before they gave a nod to the doctor.

Taking that confirmation, James looked to Jaune who was staring at him and gave the boy one silent nod.

And thus, the boy closed his eyes.

* * *

Jaune has done this many times before, following every word the General had told him, and every time it ended with him always feeling an immovable object in his path. It was like a wall that could neither be pushed or pulled. It was nothing like the feeling the General told him, but this time Jaune was tired of it. He was tired of always facing that damned wall that blocked him from getting stronger. It was always there, mocking him, _taunting him_ that his power was just in reach, but it was so beyond him that he would never reach it.

And that...that angered the boy.

He'd never known why he was here, what he was born to do, he'd only ever known that his purpose was to destroy a great evil. A monster of incredibly big proportions, but beyond all that he knew nothing else besides training. It was all he could do, to train and train and train every day of every second of his life. Every breath he took was for the sake of training.

And now...some wall was stopping him from getting closer to a purpose he'd no idea led to.

" _Tempting, isn't?"_

Jaune flinched, but when he looked around he saw nothing.

" _You have all that power, all that potential, and yet you can do nothing, but twiddle your thumbs because of your own incompetence to wield it."_

Jaune didn't know where the voice was coming from, but its words were starting to anger him. He clenched his fists in frustration as the voice chuckled darkly.

" _Angry are you? Good. Anger is powerful when wielded right. Though with your measly modicum of power you can do nothing. You're nothing, but a weak pathetic child, and that's all you will ever be."_

"Shut up." he said for the first time as raw hot rage started to course through him. An entirely new emotion he'd never felt before coursing through every fiber of his being. His heart was beating like a drum, his breathing before erratic as he glared at the wall before him.

" _And what are you going to do if I don't, monkey? Attack me? Please, you're body is frail and your state of mind is barely held together as is. What do you possibly hope to achieve by attacking me, hm?"_

The voice was mocking him and Jaune couldn't take it much more. He was crouched together, his whole body trembling from pure rage. His eyes glaring holes into the wall that held him back. He neither cared for the fact his body was letting off steam or the fact the world around him began to tremble before him. No, all the boy cared for was breaking that fucking wall and then _**tearing the owner of that voice apart!**_

" _Ooh, very good. That look of rage suits you. However, dismiss those petty thoughts for you will never reach me with how utterly weak you are right now."_

"Shut up...shut up...shut up." he spoke quicker and quicker, but the voice kept going. It's voice like poison in his ears. His tail bristled and veins pulsed from his forehead, arms and legs as he glared at the wall. Just imagining the voice coming from behind the wall was all Jaune could see right now. The shaking was so intense now that the black void around him was starting to break apart like shattered glass.

" _If you're so intent on silencing me...then make me."_

That was all the Jaune needed as his self-control snapped. His eyes glowed a yellow hue as he charged at the wall with all his power.

" _ **SHUT UP!"**_ he roared as his clashed with the wall causing an explosive shockwave to blow away the falling pieces of the void.

Then his fist broke through, and like a jenga tower, the rest of the wall broke apart.

And all Jaune saw before he was consumed in a glory of white.

Was the skies burning in emerald fire...

And a laughter so chaotic, its voice threatened to crush his skull like a walnut.

" _Good job monkey, now wreak havoc in the name of your Lord Frieza, Broly!"_

In that moment Jaune knew no more as a presence completely overwhelmed him as it rose up from within the depths of forgotten memory.

" _ **RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"**_

* * *

They never saw it coming.

One minute they saw Jaune's face contorting into an angered expression.

Then an explosion of white exploded out of the boy, it's very power breaking apart the very matter of the area around him. The General and Doctor had gotten to higher ground, and they looked to see the aura scanner breaking apart as it tried to record the event.

"What's happening!" the General demanded, but Dr. Gero could do nothing, but look at the aura levels going off.

"10,000...15,000...26,000...45,000..." the scientists eyes were bulging as he looked at the aura levels jump higher and higher. James saw it too and could barely believe what he was seeing himself.

However, there was more important things to worry about, namely, Jaune himself. "We gotta stop him now! Otherwise he'll bring this whole facility down on top of us!" James ordered his men to move.

But it was far too late.

 _Crack!_

James stopped when he heard the sound and looked to see the facility starting to give way. His eyes widened before he looked to Jaune only to see the white aura was now starting to bleed emerald. And the energy was so thick, so heavy, so filled with _malice_ that James could feel death hanging over them, scythe at their necks.

And it was then James saw it, Jaune's face was breaking out into a grin so maniacal it threatened to split his face. Then he saw the boy beginning to float as a sphere of emerald power compressed itself around him. James saw it and could only stare in horror when the boy turned his head to look at him, and when he did; in that moment, James Ironwood saw the true face of terror.

Eyes flashing crimson glared straight through his very soul.

" _ **...WEAKLING."**_

He'd created something worse than a monster.

He had created a Demon.

In that moment James knew what was going to happen, he didn't know how or why, but his survival instincts as a soldier knew first hand what was about to happen.

"Evacuate." he said causing Dr. Gero to look at him as if he were insane.

"What?! Why should we flee now when we're so close!?" Dr. Gero shouted, but James didn't dare look away from the beast before him.

"Dr. Gero, that is an order, order full evacuation orders now. WE ARE LEAVING!" James shouted before hitting the speaker button.

"This is general Ironwood, I am issuing Code Red! Everyone is to evacuate the facility now!" his piece said he looked to Jaune one last time only to see the beast grinning at him with a bloodthirsty leer.

He grabbed the doctor and started running.

They had to get out. NOW!

However, as the 5 year old boy floated there in his sphere, the spirit of something long thought dead snarled at the maggots weakness for fleeing.

" ** _WEAKLINGS WILL NEVER ESCAPE ME!"_** than with, but a thought his power jumped even more. His power compressing his sphere more and more and more until it was outlining his body. Then, the beast within the boy looked up and gave a grin.

" _ **HAHA...HAHAHAHA...HAHAHAHAHA!"**_ his distorted laughter sending chills of terror throughout everyone in the facility as they rushed to escape. His crimson eyes staring down like they were his prey.

" _ **HAHAHA! AHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"**_ the manic laughter spilled forth from his lips as he rose up, his emerald glowing body destroying everything it touched as he rose. His eyes caught and froze those that were in the process of fleeing as he rose up the levels of the facility. Finally, he stopped, laughing as always before he threw out his arms in an expression of pure fury.

" _ **HAHAHA...HAAA...Die."**_ the demon said before his body flashed emerald.

* * *

James couldn't shake the feeling he had as he and Dr. Gero boarded one of the hundreds of Bullheads that were beginning to fly off from the facilities location. His eyes were locked on the flat piece of tundra below them, and his chills only grew and he knew it wasn't from the air. It was the pure terror he felt when he saw what Jaune had become. The image of it was burned into his brain and seared into his very soul.

He closed his eyes in sorrow as all his guilt, all he anguish fell upon his shoulders once he realized what he had done, all for what he had done for, was a failure.

 _'Xander, Maroon, Julius, Ozpin, Qrow Taiyang, Raven, Summer...Glynda, I'm sorry...I'm so sorry for everything.'_

Then it happened.

It was an instant. All sound died as the very planet gave a deathly howl as the icy tundra below them swell up before it erupted in a flash of emerald. A giant sphere expanded out faster than they could perceive. The sphere vaporized everything it touched. The land, the sea, sound, light, everything it touched was consumed in a green sphere of chaos. The screams of those that couldn't escape echoed amid the frozen wasteland before they were silenced in the night as the sphere consumed them all.

James only saw it before half of his ship was consumed by it before the reactor in the ship blew up sending the ship out of the radius of the sphere.

And all James Iron wood saw before darkness consumed him was his home, Solitas, consumed in hellfire from his own failure.

* * *

All over Remnant every living soul felt it in one way or another. The planet had shaken, earthquakes sundered the planet, tsunami's rose in defiance only to crash helplessly against the mountains. The heavens wept as storms roared to life all over the planet.

On this day, this very night, as everyone looked out to see a giant sphere of emerald consume much of Solitas, in the back of their minds a deep seeded terror began to grow once they saw the cataclysmic event before them. Adults fell to their knees in terror, children fled to the bosom of their mothers and father's warm embrace. The Grimm stood frozen, feeling something unlike anything they'd ever known before.

In one dimension, in a land of nothing, but darkness and crimson. A woman stood watching from her castle of deception and lies, her blood red orbs watching the event with a perplexed raise of her brow.

In the city of Vale, standing outside the clock tower of Beacon Academy, an old wizard stood watching the event take place. His eyes reflected what was happening before him, and a sigh escaped his lips.

"And thus do we enter our eventual horizon."

However, as this all happened, one figure in the sky stood watch over the planet and observed the events transpiring before it. It's form reflecting the space around it's presence. Reality warping around it's frame before it reached with a hand towards the sphere before it closed its hand. There its head tilted upwards to see a shooting star coming from the sphere, and from it the being observed it while in it traveled in its trajectory path.

The being tilted its head for a moment before giving a slight nod. With a tilt of its finger the shooting star's path was diverted from going into space and back to the planet. There the being nodded with itself before fading back into warped reality from whence it came.

All across the world they saw the sphere of destruction, but so smitten by the sight they were, no one thought to look upward to see a shooting star streak across the skies. No one would ever pay attention to this little detail for they were all captivated by what they were all seeing.

Thus, no one would be any the wiser when the star reach a small little island off the west coast of Vale. No one would hear the crash that would follow in it's wake.

No, tonight, the world of Remnant stood in attention of what they felt was certain doom.

* * *

"Hm hm hm hmm hmmm~" the voice of a little girl hummed a playful tune as she walked hand-hand-hand with her mommy. Her black and red hair was a mess as she skipped along with her mom who looked down at her daughter with a gentle expression.

"I see you liked that little song from before, my little Rose?" the woman spoke causing the girl to look up at her, silver eyes twinkling like two individual stars. A happy smile stretched over her flushed cheeks.

"She really does mom, she kept humming the tune all night last night." another girl spoke to the woman's left and she looked down at the other girl who appeared a bit older than the other one. Her golden hair was held up in two pigtails. Her lilac eyes were filled with joy as she held the woman's hand.

"I see, perhaps I should sing to you as well my little dragon, or are you too old for mommy to sing for you, hm?" she getting a shocked look from the little girl. It was like someone had kicked her puppy from her expression.

"No! No way! I'm never gonna get old!" she said causing the woman to bend forth as innocent laughter spilled forth from her lips. Her silver orbs twinkled as she looked down at the little blond firecracker.

"I'm sure baby. You'll get all big and grown up and not need me or daddy anymore." she said making the blond stomp her feet in a tantrum.

"No! Nuh uh! I don't wanna grow up and you can't make me!" she said poking her tongue at the older woman before rushing off causing the older woman to giggle before she picked up her baby girl who giggled happily in her arms.

"Well there she goes again, let's go get your big sister Ruby before she gets in trouble." she making little Ruby openly laugh.

"Yang Yangy!"

Summer Rose openly giggled with her daughter as she followed after Yang. However, when she finally saw the shock of gold and pigtails ahead she spoke.

"Come now Yang darling, I was only jokin-" she stopped dead on her feet when she saw Yang slowly turn to her with wide frightened eyes.

"M-M-Mommy...there's something down there."

Feeling a cold dread go down her spine as Yang usually never gets scared unless from something obvious Summer ran to her daughter before she looked down at what Yang saw.

A horrified gasp escaped her as she saw the carnage before her. A deep trench was gouged into the earth, trees were uprooted, boulders shattered, and an abnormal amount of blood followed the trench. Her eyes followed the trail until she saw what Yang had seen, and instantly she crouched down to yang.

"Yang." gods her voice was cracking, but she had to be strong for her girls. "I need you to be a big girl for me right now. I need you to take Ruby and go get your father." she said giving the confused Ruby to Yang who stood there staring at her mother with big tearing eyes.

"B-but mommy."

Summer smiled at her little girl and pat her shoulder. "Don't worry honey I'll be fine, but please do this for me and get your father, tell him it's an emergency."Yang stalled for a moment, but once she understood she gave a tearful nod and ran off with her sister. Seeing her go, Summer closed her eyes and sensed the area around her for any nearby Grimm, and all retreated when they felt her presence in the air.

Finally Summer took a breath and turned back to where the trench ended and it was there she saw what Yang had seen. It was a blood soaked crater that ended with a collision to base of the mountain. Quickly she jumped down and leaped to where the crater was, and when she looked to see what was there she felt her heart lurch from within her chest.

"By the Gods..." she breathed as she saw a boy who couldn't have been any older than Yang. His body was a mess of injuries that didn't seem to end. Whatever clothing he had was torn to shreds from whatever had blasted him here. His hair was soaked in blood and it fell down over his face. The only sign that she had to determine if he was alive was the fact his monkey tail was moving, barely at that.

Summer knelt before the boy and slowly removed him from the base of the mountain, gently as she possibly could. Only for her to flinch when she saw his head had collided with the mountain due to the crack it had left in the rock. Looking at the boy in her arms she felt a few tears drop from her eyes when she saw him.

"Who could have done this to you?" her hand caressed his face.

Then his hand snapped to her wrist and she gasped when his eyes opened for a brief moment and beheld orbs of the most primal yellow she'd ever seen.

"...I...did...it..." he struggled to even say that then his eyes rolled back and he fell limp in her arms.

"Summer! What's wrong!" thankfully her husband burst forth from the forest and she turned to him as he looked at the damage done around him. And when his blue eyes fell upon her only to look at what she was holding he let out a gasp.

"Taiyang...help him."

The blond man needed no further words as he and Summer quickly ran off with the boy, praying to whatever God that was watching that they could save the boy in time.

* * *

 **That ends this chapter and hooo boy what a long one that was. 11K words. Jesus Christ alive I need some ibuprofen and a bottle of scotch.**

 **Now as some of you may not be away AU stands for alternate universe, therefore the events in this story are gonna be very different from canon. And as you can no doubt see, I'm taking the script and throwing it away.**

 **Anyway, hope you all enjoyed that, I'm gonna go rest my head for a little bit. Hope you all liked it. If you have questions leave a review.**

 **Night!**


	3. The Price of Hubris

**So, I've gotten up to chapter 20 planned out though it's roughly planned in a a notebook full of chicken scratch so as chapters are made things may change. Chapters like this one will appear to expand the world and the events surrounding Jaune; purely exposition really.**

 **Thanks for the support, as always.**

* * *

" _Their must always be a price to be paid for our actions. No matter how good our intentions may seem, it will always have far-reaching consequences that we aren't aware of until it comes to face us dead on. We must accept our failures, or be doomed to repeat our mistakes." **~Nicholas Schnee**_

 **Legacy of the Saiyans: Jaune Arc**

 **Chapter 2: The Price of Hubris**

The crunching of snow and howling winds were what welcomed the Atlesian Military, or to be more precise, the AMWC, the Atlesian Marine Winter Corps. A specialized military division within Atlas that specialized in scouting, recon, sabotage, assassination, and retrieval; all the while operating under the worst of blizzard and hailstorm conditions. They were the first to be sent out when it came to high priority missions in remote areas with highly concentrated snowstorms that blocked out any other conventional means of travel.

They were the first ones to arrive, and the last to leave.

And their mission today had to be their biggest one yet.

" _We all remember the objective?"_ the Commanding Officer, a woman whose voice demanded clear loyalty in her squad spoke through her communicator and as expected she received four other responses.

" _Search for any possible hostiles."_

" _Scout the area of the explosion."_

" _Secure the area."_

and most important of all...

" _Find General James Ironwood and Doctor Maki Gero..."_

The CO of the squad let out small sigh at that as her men trudged along the snowy ice caps of Solitas. Ever since the catastrophe 2 days ago, Atlas officials were scrambling to find out the cause for what happened. The whole Kingdom was put on lock down because of it, air travel was banned coming in or out, and anyone that tried to leave would be brought into questioning under suspicions of the incident. As far as she knew, no one had any idea as to what could have caused the explosion, but whatever it was had already come to be public knowledge to the rest of the world.

She could only imagine what the other Kingdoms were gonna think, or gods forbid, what those faunus animals were gonna think, when the most technologically advanced Kingdom in the whole world had an explosion of that magnitude go off. There was already rumors spreading around that Atlas was gearing itself for another War and were only building themselves up over time to be better prepared to invade the other Kingdoms with their superior firepower and technological advancements. So, to suddenly have this on their plate, well it would be a lie to say it wasn't a bit worrying for the balance of the four Kingdoms.

Most of it was above her way above her pay grade, but she was certain that Remnant was holding its breath to find out what the cause was. Especially since the Council Collective was being called in for an emergency summit over the issue, and that in of itself was a rare thing since they only reconvened every 6 months of the year. For them to be suddenly summoned showed just how severe this situation really was.

Thus, her mission was of the highest priority. Normally, for such situations as these her division would have been sent at the first notice of something happening. However, aerial scouts that were sent out to her designated mission location reported strange energy residue in the air that affected their electronic devices causing them to malfunction or explode in more severe cases. The energy worked sort of like an electromagnetic pulse, but instead of just pulse it was an open area of energy that disrupted any and all electronic devices within the area.

So, the order was handed down, her division was to wait for the energy to disperse enough so they could be sent to find any possible information regarding the incident and, if possible, retrieve the missing General James Ironwood and Doctor Maki Gero. An executive order that took the highest priority, an order given from the very top of the chain of command.

Normally, after witnessing an explosion like _that_ ; they would have all assumed the General and Dr. Gero would have perished along with anyone in the area. However, yesterday, they received a distress signal from the Generals personal scroll.

So, the order was clear when the signal came in.

Find and retrieve Atlas most decorated General James Ironwood and their most brilliant scientist Doctor Maki Gero. The two of them were far too valuable to lose, and if it was possible to save them than by the Brothers they were going to try. They alone were personally responsible for Atlas greatest achievements thus far, so their value was not to be put into question lest you lose all credibility.

That was her mission, and like any other she would follow it to the letter.

Yet, she couldn't help the sinking feeling in her stomach as her squad climbed the icy slopes of the Solitas mountains. The never ending blizzard that bombarded them seemed more heavy than usual, and it prickled past their protective clothing. It was akin to thousands upon thousands of needles stabbing into their bodies and as they climbed higher the sensation only got worse. However, in spite of this, they kept going for the mission they had was too important for them to stop. They were trained for this type of weather, so it wasn't about to stop them anyhow.

Casual observations of the weather aside...

Her com-link came to life as they kept up their climb.

" _I'm picking up a massive energy reading just beyond this next slope. We should be reaching the designated area soon."_

" _Very good. Let's see what the damage is."_

And so with a heavy heart and a stomach doing flips from her nervousness, she and her squad finally broke through the last icy slope and once their heads were peaking over the horizon they were the first to truly bear witness to the damage wrought by the incident that shook their whole world only a couple of days ago. And least to say, whatever they expected to see did _not_ prepare them for what they were saw now.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the commander pulled down her goggles to clearly see what was before her, but her eyes, like the rest of her squad, could not truly comprehend what they were seeing. Her brown eyes were quivering, irises dilating from the sheer amount of pure _terror_ that shot throughout her body.

"By the Gods..."

Strangely, nothing else could truly describe what she and her squad was seeing for it truly did look like an act of God. As far as their eye could see, all of Solitas beyond the icy mountain ridge was nothing, but a crater. It was as expansive as it was deep; reaching well beyond Solitas itself and into the very icy sea where the water poured into the crater, but if one to look down you could only see the giant pit seemingly have no end. It's deep dark abyss was all that awaited those that dared to venture their gaze down into it. It was beyond the definition of a crevice, but more of a giant bottomless pit that opened up on their planet.

Her skin tingled from the residual energy left in the air and the feel from it alone terrified her to the core. It was simply unnatural from what she felt, it was so heavy it took the air out of her lungs and made her feel as if something was clenching itself around her heart. Still, she did her best to dissolve the feeling within her as she looked to her squad.

"Alright everyone, let's sweep the area. Objectives are clear, search for hostiles, scout the area and secure it, and finally look for any signs of the key personnel General Ironwood and Doctor Gero." she said before one of her subordinates spoke up.

"And what of other survivors commander?" her recon specialist asked, and for a moment she remembered he was the new one in her squad. Although they'd done a few missions together, he was still fresh out of specialist training. She turned to look at him for a moment before her eyes met her LT and the other more seasoned personnel of her squad. Their eyes were cold and resolute when they matched hers.

They knew what she was going to say.

It was standard procedure after all.

For such top secret situations such as these, when disaster struck military operations; it was best to wipe the slate clean of all personnel involved that weren't of the highest brass. It was known to be "Cleaning House", but the more common term was to "Sweep it under the rug".

Her answer was as clear as the orders given to her by the Commander-in-Chief himself.

"If any survivors are found that are not General Ironwood or Doctor Gero, they are to be killed on sight and their bodies tossed into the pit. _No exceptions. Is that understood?_ "

"...Crystal, commander."

It was clear he understood after a moments hesitation. He stood in salute and she gave a nod in agreement before turning her gaze to the area. Pulling her goggles back on and her mask up she armed her rifle and started down the slope and into the area around the giant pit.

" _Alright then Jaeger Squad, Operation is go!"_

And so they descended...

Not knowing what they were about to find.

* * *

If she had to comment on her current operation she'd have to say it was a bit...lackluster to be entirely honest.

No, that would be a lie.

What she personally felt was that this whole operation stunk to high heaven. It was like she'd taken a step into a knee deep cesspool of military bullshit and political piss. She didn't know the details of what went on this area; only those in the highest branches of the Atlas Military and Political powers knew. She was, and by extension, her squad, sent out here to clean up the mess left in the wake of what she would eloquently call one giant military fuck up. It wasn't like it was the first one she'd had to clean up before, but out of all this had to be most severe one.

 _'Damn I need a vacation.'_

That was her thoughts as she surveyed the area around her. Seeing as the blast radius from the explosion was so wide spread for just her small cell she had given them orders for each of her subordinates to scout several areas near the blast radius for any evidence of what happened here, or any sign of their two primary targets. It was impossible to scour the whole land this she knew for certain, so she could only make do with what she had. While it wasn't much on her end, she knew how to break even in these types of situations where she had less manpower than what was required.

 _'And besides with just my squad, I can at least trust in them to follow orders clearly without any back talk.'_

As her feet crunched against the snow, her eyes gazed over to the giant pit not twelve feet away from her. Being so close to it now she could literally feel the remnant power from it. It made what she felt before when she and her squad found it over one hundred feet away feel like a tease to something more. What she felt now was something far more _raw_. The power coursing in the air over this pit was so strong, so heavy it took her breath away, it felt like it would crush her into nothing but ashes and sweep her away to the four winds if it had the mind to. It was so palpable that she could even see lingering effects from it had stayed such as the lighting coursing over the giant pit.

 _'I must find out what really happened here.'_

There was a reason she was the head of Jaeger Squad and that was due to her semblance and how it was used. Unlike others where it had to be actively used to have any optimal effect, hers was passively on. It was called the _Echo_ , and with it she had the ability to see into the past in certain areas that had seen recent amounts of destruction or bloodshed. It limited her to only a 5 minute grace period, but it was usually enough for her to look through a window to see what had happened.

Thus, when she knelt on the ground and placed her hand on the ground she closed her eyes and awaited for her semblance to take effect. It didn't take long to into effect as her eyes snapped open to reveal nothing, but white.

What she saw was beyond anything she had been prepared for.

* * *

 _'...The hubris of man never ceases to end...what did we do here...to have caused this...this massacre?'_

A window opening before her sight revealing unto her the devastation wrought upon this land that night. A world set alight in emerald hellfire welcomed her; a giant sphere of destruction vaporizing everything in the area was before her. Light, darkness, sound, every single notion of mortal understanding was taken and swept away by the appearance of this sphere. All she had ever known, the limits of what could be achieved, it was all for naught as she beheld this level of destruction.

She could hear them. She could _see them._ The screams of those that died in the explosion. The hundreds of thousands of souls dying out like flickering candles in the wake of a monsoon. Their agonized faces as the sphere erased them from existence, their hands trying in futility to escape death; only to be harshly rejected even that small mercy as they were pulled into complete oblivion.

She saw it all, but as she felt the limit of her semblance begin to wane she froze when she felt the pull on her aura and her mind blanked out when she _heard it._ The last fleeting echoes of the dead that died here fading away as something more sinister rose up from within the crevice. It's maddening laughter being the first thing she heard. It's shadow loomed over her, the land, the sea, the world, casting a shadow over all life.

Then its eyes cast a baleful crimson down upon her.

" _ **WEAKLINGS WILL NEVER ESCAPE ME!"**_

The voice boomed within her mind will all the force it a sonic boom. Her vision shook, her brain rattled as the force of it threatened to split her skull like a walnut.

* * *

" _COMMANDER! DO YOU READ!?"_

 _Gasp..._

Her eyes flashed back to normal as icy tendrils slid down her throat and only when she started to cough violently did she realize she'd been face first in the snow. The vision she saw being so intense it had brought her down to near levels of having a stroke. The cold winds she sucked in was a refreshing change as her body took a few minutes to calm down. Her eyes slowly began to calm down and her breathing lessened to a more normal pace as she settled herself.

 _'That's it. After this mission I'm retiring and going back to Mistral to hold my little Neptune. This is beyond my depth now.'_

Finally calmed, she responded to her com-link. _"I read you, did you find anything?"_ she said while standing up to stabilize herself.

" _Yeah...we found something, but...you're gonna want to see this."_

Well...that didn't sound ominous at all.

* * *

The crackling of fire and smell of smoke was the first thing to greet her when she finally arrived at the location of where her squad found the General. It was there, to her surprise she found the wreckage of a Bullhead, or what was left of it as half of it seemed to have been vaporized from the explosion. Reaching her squad she saw them huddled around the cockpit of the ship; once she was there she started barking orders.

"Report!" she said getting her recon specialist to respond.

Her tech expert took the plate as he went over his scroll. "Well according to a brief check on this ships internal systems, or what I could salvage from it. This ship was the Generals personal bullhead for designated location Z.E.U.S. Facility. Beyond that though it's all garble. Systems were far too damaged to get anything else out of it." he said causing her to nod with a small frown.

"I see, at least we know the General survived the initial explosion." _'Although this Zeus facility is something ponder about.'_

"Yes, in addition we found this." he said before her LT came up with a white bloodied coat with a name tag. Once she saw it her eyes grew cold.

 _Doctor Maki Gero_

 _Damn!_

"I'm willing to wager that during their attempt to escape Dr. Gero was falling out of the bullhead and someone tried to grab him, but the coat came off instead. Thus, the man must have fallen into...that." she said glancing to the pit.

"More than likely. Brass won't like that bit of info for certain, but there is very little we can do about that." he said and she would have scoffed at that. No. Brass were gonna be absolutely _livid_ over losing Dr. Gero. It wasn't an understatement to say the man was the tip of the metaphorical spear when it came to Atlas advancements in technology. Dr. Gero's genius was a one of a kind thing, his brilliance was unmatched, and to lose him was a very strong blow to Atlas as whole.

Still...

"That just leaves the General. Hopefully, he at least survived." she said getting nods from the rest of her squad.

"Commander! Over here!" her ears perked and she turned to see her scout specialist a little away from the wreckage. Running towards him she saw he was standing over disturbances in the snow, but what really caught her attention was the red trail leading away from the wreckage.

It was blood. _And a lot of it._

Yet...there was a trail..

There was a chance!

Alarm bells started ringing and her instincts took over. She activated her com-link to HQ and shouting as soon as a transponder responded. _"HQ this is Jaegar squad, I need an emergency drop ship with a full medical team on hand ASAP! I'm sending you my coordinates now."_

" _...Got your coordinates Commander Vasilias, ship will be ETA 5 minutes."_

" _Affirmative, over and out."_ that said she canceled her comm and turned to her squad.

"Alright Jaegars form up! Falcon, take point." getting a resounding agreement from her men they started following the trail of blood. Falcon, being the expert scout that he was took point as they followed the trail. However, it didn't take them long to come at the end where they found a hollowed boulder wedged in the cliffs. Turning on their lights with only a silent motion of her hands they went on inside.

And it was there, they found him.

General James Ironwood, the most stalwart decorated General in the Atlas Military, Headmaster of the Atlas Huntsmen Academy, Councilor of Atlas, and Atlas Representative for the Council Collective. The representation of everything Atlas stood for.

Was _broken._

He was soaked in blood, the entire right side of his body was just _gone._ Vaporized in such a manner that even the wound left behind was a badly cauterized mess of burnt muscle tissue and blackened flesh. The rest of his body was suffering from an extreme case of hypothermia, but in spite of all of that, the General was pulling through. His breathing, while erratic, was still there.

A good sign.

Relief mixed with trepidation washed over her as she rushed to the wounded man.

"By the Brothers...someone get my the first aid kit! Now!" she yelled and her squad acted. Attending to the General as the ship from HQ made itself known a few minutes later outside the hollow. They all rushed the General out to the ship, but as this happened the General weakly opened his eyes to stare out at the stormy clouds above him.

" _I'm so sorry..."_

No one seemed to even hear him say this, but the Commander of Jaegar squad had and she peaked down at the General as he was lifted into the ship by the paramedics. She frowned for only a second in bewilderment as to why he would be apologizing, but instead shook it off for now.

For now that the mission was complete and that's all that mattered to her. As they were lifted off from the area, and her eyes gaze out at the devastation before her she gripped her rifle as her mind made itself up.

 _'….I'm done with this. I'm going back to my son. None of this is normal and I want nothing else to do with it.'_ her mind made up she sat down as the medics worked on the General, but as they were flown out thoughts of her blue haired baby boy were slowly dissolving into the memory she had from her semblance. That maddening laughter, those crimson eyes, all that destruction.

Her grip tightened, and the barrel groaned in protest.

Yes.

Camellia Vasilias was done with the Atlas Military and all its secrets.

She was going home.

* * *

Usually the summit of the Council Collective was a welcomed affair throughout the four Kingdoms. It was a time where the worlds most influential figures would gather to share the troubles and concerns of the people. To find solutions and methods in clearing out these problems and clamping down on that which threatened the spectrum of balance of the 4 countries. They were the voice of the people as it goes, and today couldn't have been any closer to the truth.

Three of the four Kingdoms representative Councilors were present for today's meeting. Vale, Vacuo, and Mistral were all sitting in mutual silence as they regarded one another in apprehensive obligatory politeness. Yet, the raging storm in their eyes, the tenseness in their bodies, it was all clear signs of what they were all feeling. Their silence mirrored how their people of their respective Kingdoms felt after they had all _seen_ the incident that had taken place in Solitas. Hell, there wasn't a doubt in their minds that all of Remnant had seen it.

And that terrified them.

The explosion had been beyond anything ever witnessed in recorded history. It had been so destructive the aftershocks alone was felt throughout the countries. Shock waves that wiped out entire villages, tsunami's that swallowed up whole docks and fishing towns. Earthquakes erupting all over the planet that sundered the land. Those alone had caused so much destruction and death that it was _still_ being accounted for along with the death toll in Solitas. Then there was the cost for rebuilding settlements that was licensed by Kingdom officials. Since they recognized by the Kingdoms they were obligated to pay for the damage done by the disaster, and that wasn't something anyone of them liked.

However, all of that took a backseat to their current dilemma. What had happened in Solitas, in Atlas own country was an event that could only be put on the scale of a cataclysm event. Half of the whole continent was just a giant pit in the planet. The event raised concerns, dangerous questions that not even they could honestly answer. Even if they tried to spin it, it still wouldn't truly explain what happened.

However, they had an idea. They were one of the rare few people that knew some of Atlas darkest little secrets, and one in particular aligned with the disappearance of their fellow councilor.

"The people are getting restless. Questions are being asked. What were Atlas developing there to have caused such an explosion?" the Vale representative spoke.

"From what we know so far, General Ironwood was developing something. Something big enough to require funding from a lot of benefactors, including us. So, to tie the lines, whatever happened out there has to be tied to whatever he was working on due to his absence at this summit." the Mistral representative spoke in turn garnering a nod from the other two.

"Agreed. Matters of the Kingdoms are important, but our roles are to be the voices of our people. If he isn't here than must be because he had to be involved in the incident somehow. Perhaps this project he worked on backfired?" the Vale spokesman replied.

"It is possible." the Vacuo representative spoke up. His voice sounding off like rocks grinding against one another. His eyes narrowing in focus. "The General was very tight lipped about what he was working on, but after seeing this level of devastation. The need for secrecy has long since passed. Already accusations are being thrown out in my country that Atlas was building a super weapon to invade our countries. Even the faunus are starting to seclude themselves from anything related to Atlas, and the rest of Vacuo, fearing for their lives that they were going to be targeted next. Recent reports even indicate that White Fang activity has dramatically dropped after the incident, so it must have spooked them immensely. An unexpected boon." he said this in a frown causing the other representatives to frown.

"True enough. Faunus aside, however, my people are already in open rebellion against anything related to Atlas. Fear and panic is spreading and I fear it will only get worse if we do not come up with a solution to this dilemma." the vale representative spoke in turn only to get a scoff from the Mistral councilor.

"No need to dance around the subject. We know what must be done. Atlas has made a grave mistake, and they _will_ answer for it. Their actions have tipped the balance and have done far more damage than even the Arcs have done in their crusade for their lost heir." she stopped as she met the gazes of her fellows. "To avoid another Great War, Atlas must atone for what it has done. To rebuild relations that it has shattered. They must pay reparations, amend for what has happened, or they will suffer the consequences." she said

"I agree, action must be taken." the Vacuo representative spoke.

"I move for it as well." the Vale spokesman replied in kind.

"Then we are in agreement send-"

 **BAM!**

The doors to their chambers slammed open as one of their officials came running in. "Honored Councilors! I have urgent news!" footsteps echoed in the chamber as their official ran to them. However, he stopped cold when he saw the Mistral spokesman giving him a glare so chilling one would have considered her to be native to Solitas.

"It had better be severe enough to interrupt our meeting." She said and the man gave a timid nod before giving them a letter.

"It's from Atlas. They've issued a Code Black." he said causing their eyes widen in surprise.

Code Black. The last stage for any Kingdoms national security. It put the whole Kingdom in total martial law. Lock down was to be issued. A total black out for civil and trade systems. It was a total military take over until the situation that put them in that stage was resolved.

"And that's not all...they found General Ironwood, but due to the severe amount of injuries he's suffered...he's fallen into a coma."

…..

Vale, Mistral and Vacuo representatives blinked for a few moments as they absorbed the knowledge given to them before the Vacuo spokesman spoke. "Is that all?" the official gave a nod. "Very well. You are dismissed." the official gave a respectful bow before walking out. As the doors closed behind him, the Councilors looked at one another for a few moments.

"Well it would seem we will need to rearrange our plans for a bit. We cannot exactly demand answers from Atlas while its under lock down, and with Ironwood predisposed as he is we won't be getting any answers from either." spoke the Vacuo spokesman.

The other two councilors could only nod in agreement. "It was a wise move on their part. I'm agreement as well. It'll give us time to settle our peoples panic." the Vale spokesman replied.

The Mistral representative sighed before massaging her head. "I agree as well. There's very little else we can do until the lock down is dropped. We shall reconvene at the original time, agreed?"

"Agreed."

With the matter settled, for now, the Councilors started off to leave, but as they did the Vacuo spokesman sat where he was. His eyes gazing out at seemingly nothing, and as he heard the doors close he quietly tapped a button underneath the table. Seeing the cameras quietly shut off he stood up and walked around the table to stand in front of the center where those that would be questioned would be seated. From there he pulled out small black orb, it writhed in his palm before it grew out into a tentacle based Grimm with one giant red glowing eye and white bone fragments along its tentacles. It grew to the size of a beach ball before it floated to the center of the chamber. Then the Grimm's eye flickered to an image of his Queen.

He bowed his head low before looking to her. "I assume you heard all that?" he asked

The woman before him was a sight to behold. Her white hair was done up in a bun with six offshoots coming out with black ornaments hanging from each one. Her pale was deathly white with red and purple veins that ran down the length of her arms and her face. Her long black silk robe hugged her hourglass figure left nothing to the imagination and the red designs which resembled eyes and that only enhanced her otherworldly appearance. Her ruby red eyes, gleamed in cruel twisted delight, as her thoughts raced faster than Hazel would ever dare to perceive. In the words of one of her followers, she was a Goddess made flesh, and Hazel found it hard to dispute that, and not just from her appearance, but from just her sheer presence.

It never ceased to amaze him how even in a apparition of her physical form, her existence threatened to snuff his own like it was a candle. Yet, such unease was quelled when she smiled at him. Her smile was like that of a mother would show to her child, but the look in her eyes was anything, but loving.

It was terrifying.

" _ **Every word. You've done well Hazel, but with recent events I believe it is time we get in touch with Arthur, he is still be stationed in Atlas with another recruitment assignment, so he can provide us a backdoor look into what dear old Ironwood was so desperately trying to hide."**_ the woman said before closing her eyes in thought.

" _ **Now, I must go, other matters are in need of my attention. Remember Hazel, We must find out more of this...Project Zeus that Ozpins mutt was so secretive about, failure is not an option, do you understand?"**_ the tone in her voice alone was enough to tell Hazel that she wouldn't tolerate any failures. He could tell whatever this project was; it had piqued the woman's interest enough for her to take a personal look into it. Which was rare seeing as she never truly put her hand into matters herself unless it was of incredibly important situations.

Regardless, he had never failed her before, and he wasn't about too now.

Besides...

 _'Anything to one up that bastard Ozpin is enough for me.'_ he grit his teeth as a memory of his little sister flashed in his mind before it was washed away in his ever burning hatred for the man who took killed her.

He crossed his arm over his chest and bowed respectfully.

"Your will shall be done..."

" _Salem."_

* * *

As the image flickered off, Salem waved her hand and the scrying Grimm took the willed command and floated away. With it gone, the woman turned her attention to the balcony outside her meeting room. She was as silent as the grave while making her move to reach the platform. Her fingers gently glided over the table meant for her most trusted subordinates. Black nails tinkered with the mahogany chair before she pushed open the double door window to walk out to see the world around her.

Yes. _Her world._ Ruby eyes idly gazed over the landscape of black and red, soaking in everything she saw with content. Hordes of Grimm rose up from within the darkness cast over by the shattered moon. Roars of the millions of her children echoing over the plane of her dimension, it was like a tune she could never rid herself of. It pleased her slightly, but that matter naught as her gaze went upwards. Past her dimension, past the shattered moon, and into the vast open space where countless stars twinkled in all their innocent existence.

Her expression changed in that moment as her eyes reflected those stars and the deep void that held them there. It was unlike anything she'd shown before; not even her most trusted members in her circle had ever seen her shown such a face. It was one of solemn acceptance and deep seeded resentful agony that danced deep in those red orbs.

"That energy I felt...surely you felt it too Ozpin..." she muttered to herself, she reached out with her hand and her minds eyes flashed back to the memory of her Grimm that had witnessed that explosion replayed in her mind. Her body shivered in anxiety as her eyes reflected the giant sphere of power. It's all encompassing power, consuming everything in its path, chaotic in nature, everything fell low beneath that power.

And it only brought memories of her biggest mistake to mind.

"It must have reminded you as well, you old Wizard. That power...it was wielded only once before..." she said before she clenched her hand in a reignited rage. Her eyes glaring up into the void with a pure unadulterated millennia old hatred. The world around her warped and twisted beneath her rage, the dimension cracking beneath her immensely restrained power.

" _ **...by those who made us who we are."**_

* * *

Standing at the top of the Beacon Academy clock tower, Ozpin leaned against the balcony of his institution. His cup of coffee put aside, long since gone cold, the man sighed before he grabbed his green hued glasses and slowly took them off to reveal his brown orbs to look up into the midnight sky. The grip on his cane tightened till his knuckles popped as his brown eyes closed to reel in his emotions.

 _'It would appear the event in Solitas has shaken us both more than I initially realized...the link between us...it is more evident than ever now.'_

Still, he could not deny what he felt as he looked up at those stars.

"I know all too well...Salem." he said, a spark of his power returning in the form of brown orbs flashing like two glowing emeralds.

" _...All too well."_

* * *

 **And that ends this chapter and as you can see its shorter than the last one, but its purely for the purpose of world building. Than again I'm a right lazy bastard when I feel like it, so take that for what you will.**

 **Now I'm gonna go to bed, hope you all liked it. Leave a review if you want cause as you can from this chapter.**

 **The script for Canon RWBY no longer exists. This is MY WORLD NOW BITCHES BWAHHAHAHAHA!**

 **Bye.**


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